The Runway Date
by XtaticPearl
Summary: Dean Winchester was Sam's main man. His best friend, adopted brother and bodyguard for 10 years and running. When Sam is attacked on a plane, Dean forces him to start using the private jet. They needed a trustworthy man to be in-charge of it though. In walked the 28 year old charming Castiel Novak. Everybody likes him. Dean doesn't trust him. Castiel doesn't seem to mind trying.
1. Chapter 1

Dean shot out an arm and heard the footsteps stop behind him. He saw the two armed men pace in the corridor and cursed under his breath.

"Two hats front and four back. Three SIGs, two Glocks and one MP5A2. Danny man, I need you to get your ass up here." The 32 year old bodyguard was pissed off as hell. His best friend was in the custody of some hijacking assholes and he was running out of firearms.

"Should have taken the UTS 15" he muttered to himself as he led another guard to the cabin where Sam was kept. _Should have taken the jet_ his brain supplied mockingly but Dean knew better than that. No use panicking when in a panic situation – he learnt that a long time ago. The plane went through another bout of turbulence when Dean saw his chance and crept up behind one of the guards. As soon as he saw the right moment, he got into battle mode.

It hadn't taken more than 30 minutes to get the situation under control but for Dean it had been the worst kind of time. Sam had escaped with a bullet graze on his shoulder and the plane was back under control. Things would have been perfect if Danny hadn't taken a serious bullet and was under heavy blood loss. Dean cursed like a sailor when he saw one of his trusted men barely escape death's claws.

"It's not your fault Dean" he turned to see Sam Winchester standing beside the door of the cabin. His face was cleaned up and his shoulder was bandaged but Sam's face was grim. Dean knew that face; he had seen it countless times over the past 10 years.

"I almost got you killed. I didn't do my job Sammy!" It was only when they were alone that Dean used the nickname. When there were others around, it was always a professional relationship. Most people didn't even know that they were brothers. Well, step-brothers to be exact but Sam hated it when Dean tried to pull that card.

"No, you did your job _perfectly_ well" Sam was firm in his stance "You saved me. Hell, you even saved Danny when things could have gotten worse!" If there was one thing Sam disliked about Dean it was his lack of self-appreciation. Being a much targeted genius and billionaire for most of his life, Sam had learnt early on to appreciate the good about life. It made life easier when there was too much to handle.

"My _job_ is to make sure you don't get into situations like this!" Dean was working himself up into a rage "I should have known better! A frickin plane Sammy! We got attacked on a frickin plane! Leave us, there were other people who could have got hurt! Civilians who should never have been involved! I screwed up and nothing changes that!"

Sam sighed and shook his head wearily. When his older brother, best friend and bodyguard got into one of these moods, it was best to let him get out the steam. Walking in, he sat down on one of the chairs that hadn't been broken in the fight. He saw Dean pace around the room like a caged panther and waited calmly. After about 15 minutes he decided to start a conversation.

"So how long before we get to the wedding?" he enquired casually, flipping through one of the trashy magazines lying around. Eyeing one of the new watches from Tag Heur in the centrefold, he ignored the frown Dean sent his way.

"Do you seriously think I'll let you go to a _wedding_ after an incident like this?" the level of incredulity in the dangerously quiet man's voice should have intimidated any lay man.

"Do you seriously think that I would wait for you to _let_ me do anything?" Sam shot back without missing a beat.

Dean positively growled at that. Sometimes, being a bodyguard for your younger brother was the biggest pain in your ass. But he couldn't really trust anyone else to do it. Looking at his stubborn brother Dean thought for a few minutes. He could either fight back, making this a never ending argument; or he could make a deal and get something out of Sam. Working a plan out in his mind, Dean decided his choice.

"Ok, we'll go" he said making Sam look up in surprise. He almost laughed at the shocked expression on the younger man's face at his quick agreement. "We'll go but only if you promise to use the private jet from now onwards." Dean offered his deal with a smirk in place.

Sam narrowed his eyes at the offer. Dean knew how much he hated using the private charter. He hated flaunting his wealth, even though the world thought he loved being rich. Sam had simply wanted a nice and simple life with his technology, his lab and a family that loved him for who he was. He thought about what Dean offered before jumping into an argument. He could always ignore the deal and go to the wedding anyway, but after the recent incident he didn't think it would be fair to Dean. So, he could either take up the offer and attend his old friend's wedding in peace; or choose to fly normally and miss out on meeting his friends. In the end, it really wasn't much of a choice.

"Fine" Sam pouted "We'll take the charter from the next time. But I will NOT wear any of those ridiculous bulletproof vests you got last week." Dean chuckled at the decision but agreed on it. Now all they needed to do was get to Miami, attend the damn wedding Sam seemed to love and get back home. _Shouldn't be that tough_ Dean thought to himself as stared out the window.

"This is tougher than ANYTHING I have EVER done" Dean gritted out to the empty changing room as he struggled with the monstrosity in his hand. Seriously, who in their right minds chose wine red suit jackets for a guy who had specifically asked for ONLY black? Apparently, Charlie Bradbury did. The smart-ass bride had taken one look at Dean's sensible black ensemble before chucking it out of the room.

"My wedding, my rules, my colours" she had announced with no room for compromises. Sam, the weasel, hadn't bothered sticking up for him, not wanting to annoy his close friend and almost sister. Charlie was a colourful personality. Dean preferred to call her the 'unicorn bitch'. And he meant bitch in the nicest way possible, because Charlie was a badass bitch when things got tough. Dean had seen that personally, especially when Sam had come out of the closet and Charlie had torn into the vapid press who tried to insult him. It had certainly helped that she was the most sought after lawyer in state and had been Sam's first girlfriend. Dean still laughed when he thought about _that_ part. All in all, she was probably the coolest chick he had ever met. But she had the worst choices of colours, especially when it came to deciding somebody else's dresses.

"Usually the shirt goes in and the jacket goes out" he heard a voice behind him and froze. He didn't get sneaked upon very often. Hell, this was probably the first time somebody had managed to sneak up on him. Turning around cautiously, Dean's eyes met the bluest pair of eyes he had seen. They were actually teasing, like they could talk and were cracking a joke. He slowly dragged his eyes along the body connected to those eyes. Tall, lean and radiating confidence – the man in front of him was what people liked to call 'sex on legs'. The dark purple suit jacket was unbuttoned, along with a few top buttons of the light blue shirt tucked into the snuggest pair of denim jeans. It should have been a ridiculous combination, along with the wind blown black hair and the light stubble lining the hard jaw of the stranger. Dean wanted to look up but his eyes seemed to have their own mind, taking in the comfortable way his hips leaned against the door jamb and his legs crossed casually.

It took a moment for Dean to realise what he was doing. He snapped up his eyes to meet the blue ones now looking amused. _God! Am I losing my mind?_ Dean thought to himself _Staying with Sammy is starting to make me catch gayness!_

Shaking away thoughts of long legs, blue eyes and sexy hair, Dean cocked a brow at the stranger. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice coming out more gruff than necessary. It didn't seem to affect the other guy who simply raised an eyebrow.

"Just a helper trying to help you dress up" he replied, walking in and gesturing to the mess of clothes around Dean. In a moment of utter mortification, Dean realized that he was shirtless and standing in only dress pants. It wasn't a big deal for Dean, to be shirtless. He was shirtless almost all the time in the gym. He had been shirtless in front of Sammy when they were camping somewhere. He had been naked with ladies before. Hell, he even went skinny dipping once a while. But when he saw the stranger's eyes roving over his naked upper body appreciatively, he felt a sudden attack of nervousness. It was stupid and insane, feeling like a hormonal teenager! God! It was those damn eyes, Dean decided before clearing his throat to get back the attention of those wandering eyes.

The man didn't look the least bit embarrassed, instead simply shrugged. Each man held the other's gaze in a weird staring contest. For Dean, it was a matter of retaining his power and control. For the other guy, Dean hoped it was just a male ego I-won't-back-down-first problem. He could handle that; he was a real Alpha male and he was sure he could handle another guy's ego problems.

When the staring got too intense for Dean's liking, he felt great relief to see the other guy break eye-contact. Dean collected his wits quickly before re-schooling his features "Who are you? What are you doing here?" he asked again, this time intent on getting the right answers.

The blue-eyed guy didn't give him much trouble "The bride sent me over. Said you had 5 minutes to get your ass down to the venue. Which is glorious by the way, your ass I mean."

Dean couldn't have been more shocked if he had been shot. _Is he..FLIRTING with me?_ His braind shrieked in an utterly unpleasant high pitch. He narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth the skewer the guy with his best insult when he realised that he was already half way out of the room.

Dean was almost breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the guy pop back into the room "The name is Cas by the way. Just in case you were wondering.. _Dean_." with that quip he was out the door, leaving a disgruntled and flustered Dean in wake. He gathered that either Charlie or Sam must have told him his name when they sent him to the room but what affected him was the way he said it. Dean had never known his name to sound erotic, but the way he said it made it sound naturally tempting.

"Cas.." Dean tested the name on his lips, trying to make it sound as sexy as his name had sounded off the other guy's lips. When he realized what he was doing, he mentally whacked himself, hurrying to get dressed and rush back to the venue.

Forget the wine red of his suit, he was going to need some real wine to cool off now.

"Who's that?" Dean casually asked Sam, gesturing towards Sam with his champagne glass. He saw Sam frown in the general direction before his eyes focussed on the man. Laughing out loud, he turned to Dean with real amusement in his eyes "Really Dean? You don't recognise him? That's Cas!"

Dean rolled his eyes "Oh sure, that's helpful" he huffed, taking another sip of champagne "Like the name should strike a bell?"

Sam shook his head mockingly "Tsk tsk Dean" he chastised "You really should read about the world more often." Dean scrunched up his nose at the advice. Oh he read about the world. He read more news than Sam would ever do. But he didn't remember reading about any _Cas_ in the politics, sports or technology section.

"That's Castiel. Castiel Novak. The _Attitude_ 's April cover guy?" Sam looked at Dean like he had been living under a rock. Suddenly things clicked into place in Dean's brain. He had heard Sam rave about the photoshoot and how dashing the guy had looked. He never got around to actually seeing the picture, because he hadn't been interested in seeing a naked guy pose sexily, thank you very much. Now though, he wished he had seen it. Or maybe it was better that he hadn't.

Dean heard Sam telling him that he was going to meet some friends and waved him off. He went back to the bar and got a refill on the champagne. He would have really loved some strong old whisky but Charlie, the damned unicorn, had forbidden whiskey at the wedding. Another one of her rules, she had explained to the collective groans of her friends. As he sipped on the champagne, keeping an eye out for Sam, he was completely unprepared for the sneak up.

"Hello there" Cas spoke up, right behind Dean, making him jump a little.

"Christ, what's wrong with you man? Do you always sneak up on people?" Dean hissed, noticing the familiar blue eyes twinkling at him.

"No, not really. You might be one of my exceptions." Cas smiled, making Dean frown.

"Really? Am I also an exception when it comes to shameless flirting? Or am I just a new addition to the list?" Dean didn't know why he was talking about flirting. _Did the champagne screw with my brain?_ He wondered as he saw Cas raise an eyebrow.

"Touché" he replied with a mock salute of his own champagne flute. There was a stretch of silence as they stood near the bar, Cas watching the couples dance on the floor and Dean wondering what to do next.

"So…you're a gay model huh?" Dean knew how stupid he sounded the moment the words left his mouth. _Really Dean_ his brain mocked him _a model wasn't enough? You HAD to say 'gay' model? What does that even mean?!_

"And you're a gay reader?" Cas shot back making Dean choke on his drink. He raised horrified eyes to meet teasing but slightly annoyed blue eyes. "Gay magazine reader I mean" Cas clarified, letting him off the hook "Because obviously, you seem to have read _Attitude_." The knowing smirk was getting on Dean's nerves.

"No, not really. Your edition might have been one of my exceptions." He quipped, using the other guy's own words against him.

Castiel seemed to find that funny and let out a quiet chuckle. He held out his hand with a pleasing smile "Hi, we haven't officially met. I'm Castiel Novak, but friends call me Cas"

Dean felt a bit of apprehension melt away as he noted that the flirtation was gone now. He shook the outstretched hand "Dean Winchester" he replied with a nod.

"Winchester..you're Sam's brother?" Cas guessed correctly, his eyes widening a fraction. Dean was disappointed with the familiar reaction. It was always the same way – people were impressed with him for being Sam's brother, like it was some kind of trophy or medal to be cherished. He loved his brother and his job but sometimes he just wished people wouldn't try to be friends with him to be connected to Sam Winchester, billionaire extraordinaire.

"Yes" he clipped out, trying not to wince at the annoyance the word had carried. Cas seemed to pick up on it, staring at him silently, trying to decide something.

"Must be quite a pain" Cas replied making Dean frown. That was not a reaction he usually got.

"Why?" he asked, genuinely confused. Cas simply shrugged before downing his drink in one go.

"Passive fame is worse than actual fame isn't it? The fake friends, irrational admirers and the insane amount of scrutiny into your normal life." Cas casually waved a hand at the general audience dancing on the floor and specifically the crowd now gathering around Sammy. Dean kept an eye out for the crowd, ready to jump in if need arose.

"It isn't all that bad" Dean shrugged "I also happen to work with him, so I'm used to it by now." He had to consciously use 'with' instead of 'for', something Cas caught on to but ignored.

"That's good, working with your family" Cas agreed, no trace of condescension in his voice "I work with my brother too. Well, not _with_ him but in the same place as him." He had a small smile on his face when he spoke about his brother. That seemed to make Dean happy – he felt proud about Sammy too and loved working with him.

"He's a model too?" Dean asked, eyes still set on the group of people around Sammy.

The full blown laughter from his side made Dean startle. He saw Cas throw back his head and laugh genuinely. "You..you actually think that I work as a model?" he asked between gasps.

Dean didn't understand why that was a joke "Yeah, why?" he asked, feeling like was missing something.

Cas shook his head in amusement "I am a pilot Dean" he quipped with a cheerful voice " I work with the American Star Airlines and my brother works as a flight attendant."

Dean scrunched up his face in confusion "So why were you on the cover of _Attitude_?" he prodded, now genuinely puzzled. What was a pilot doing as a model?

"Well, the editor is a good friend of mine and he asked. So I did it." Cas shrugged, still smiling at Dean's confusion.

Before he had a chance to ask anything further, he caught sight of a minor problem in the crowd around Sam and excused himself to reach him. After sorting out the issue and getting Sam away from a few clinging females, he turned around, looking for Cas. There was nobody near the bar and Dean had to get moving when Sam alerted him of the time.

As they settled into the car, Dean noticed a couple making out on the rear mirror. He wouldn't have given it much thought if he hadn't noticed the purple suit of one of them. On a second glance, he felt a jolt when he recognised Cas as one of the men. Sam seemed to notice Dean's look and saw the couple as well.

"Oh that? That's Balthazar, the editor of _Attitude_. Rumour says he and Cas are quite…intimate. Seems unfair doesn't it? All that sexiness from two sexy people?" Sam sighed dramatically before settling in comfortable in the back seat.

Dean had trouble understanding what Sam said over the sudden roaring in his head. Castiel was kissing another man. Specifically, the editor of the magazine that had him almost naked on its cover. He remembered the pilot mention about the editor being 'a good friend' but hadn't imagined this to be the friendship he was talking about. Dean didn't know why he felt anger towards him or how it should have mattered that Castiel was kissing anyone. But he was affected.

For the first time in his lifetime, Dean was affected by two men kissing; one familiar and the other not. _Shut up and drive_ Dean convinced his brain to move the car before his thoughts got any more embarrassing. As they drove back to the hotel, Dean made a decision to push back any doubts and questions regarding a certain blue eyed sexy pilot and his own attraction towards him. He didn't know _why_ he was attracted but he didn't want to think about it. If he was gay, he didn't want to think about being gay for a man who was so obviously in a relationship with someone else. Dean decided that his sudden shift in sexual preference or doubts regarding it would never be discussed or talked about. He could go on to pretend being straight. As his mind provided an unnecessary visual of Cas's eyes and him kissing another mind, Dean decided he would do just that. He would never admit to being gay.


	2. Chapter 2

"Char, I REALLY don't want to do this." Sam tried to convince his friend and lawyer to drop the matter but it didn't work well. Charlie narrowed her eyes and slammed the file on the table.

"Yeah I know. The benevolent and gracious Samuel Winchester doesn't _want_ to take legal action against his cheating scumbag of an employee. I mean, this isn't the first time right? You let Maria the slut secretary go when she 'accidently' outed you, let Friggins the thieving butler go when he stole your 'top secret' aerodynamics breakthrough and now this. Sure Sam, let's forgive a _pilot_ who endangered your safety, along with the lives of other _civilians_ by compromising the security details. That sounds like a great plan for future security measures. I'm sure Dean loooves this idea. He does know about this, doesn't he?" Charlie Bradbury had been Sam's lawyer for 6 years now and she hated it when the soft-hearted baboon shied away from legally prosecuting people who hurt him. What angered her more this time was the thought that Sam could have died. He could have died, while coming to _her_ wedding.

When they had learnt of Harrod's betrayal, Dean almost killed the guy. Charlie had cut short her honeymoon and her husband Kevin had come down to offer any kind of support. Being a top investigative journalist made him an invaluable asset to track down all the contacts involved in the hijacking. When Sam had tried to rebuff their attempts of pursuing legal action, Dean had destroyed the coffee table and walked off to the gym for some 'cooling off time'. Charlie had spent the last hour trying to get Sam to agree to their plan. Kevin had opted to stay out of the argument; he knew the temper his wife was capable of and wanted to stay out of her line.

"This isn't about you anymore Sam." Charlie tried again, her voice softer with concern and desperation "It is about the people who stay with you; who work with you and trust you. We need to punish people who are wrong – that's what the law is for."

Sam sighed and dragged a palm over his face. He knew that Charlie was right. He nodded and signed the papers authorizing the complaint against his ex-pilot.

"Good. I was planning to twist your arm to get it done." Sam looked up to see an angry Dean stand by the door. He gave a small smile in response. He knew why Dean was angry but it still nagged him that he was going to destroy somebody's life and family. Taking a deep breath he tried to change the topic.

"Well, this is going to create a new head-ache for you" he told Dean who frowned. "We don't have a pilot anymore and you made me promise to use the private charter only." Sam clarified, while explaining to the other two in the room. Kevin raised an eye-brow at Dean, who did the same in a challenging way.

"You guys do know that the next guy you hire will have to go through a hell lot screenings right?" Kevin asked, looking between the brothers "I mean, your problem is not that people _won't_ apply for the post. It will be that _too many_ people will apply."

Charlie nodded in agreement, her mood infinitely better now "I know" she said, looking at a tired Dean "You can't just find a guy who can fly a plane well and pop him into the cockpit. You need someone you can trust as much as you trust us."

Dean scoffed at that "Trust me, if we have to find someone _that_ trustworthy, we'll be looking till the next New Year's". Sam smiled at the weird compliment but agreed with Dean "So how do we find the right guy?..Or girl?" Sam added the last part when he noticed Charlie's bitchy face.

They spent the next half hour tracking people they knew who could fill-in. Time was crucial too, because Sam had to travel to a series of conferences and events in about 5 days. Between pizza slices and bottles of beer, thanks to Charlie, they were striking off options pretty fast.

"Maybe we should just use the normal flights with additional security this time?" Sam suggested after dumping the 10th profile into the dustbin. Dean simply glared in response. All of a sudden Charlie shot up and smacked her head with her palm.

"Of course! How did I NOT think of him?! He's perfect!" she exclaimed, looking slightly out of normalcy. Dean exchanged a look with Sam who simply shrugged in ignorance. Before they could ask her anything, she grabbed Kevin and rushed out of the room.

"O-okayyy" Dean drawled slowly, looking at the spot where Charlie had been standing just seconds back "What exactly happened right now?" he asked his equally dumb-struck brother.

They soon forgot about the strange event as both of them tried searching for any appropriate candidate. Dean even suggested calling one of his Airforce buddies but Sam shot him down with a withering glare. "Dean, we are NOT going to have a SOLDIER waste his time, flying around a civilian to frickin SCIENCE conferences." Dean didn't argue and went back to searching.

A couple of minutes later, they saw a smug looking Charlie and an apprehensive Kevin enter the room again.

"We" Charlie announced in a pompous voice "have found your solution. And he is perfect. Perfect." She stressed on the last word, her eyes shining with excitement. Dean hated that look. He hated it when anyone looked that excited and bubbling with energy. It made him very uncomfortable; much like Kevin looked right now.

Sam though, had no problem being curious. "Who is it?" he asked in his 'I'm-so-curious-I-might-burst' voice.

Charlie looked at Kevin who sighed and shook his head wearily. That made Dean feel even worse. If sensible Kevin felt nervous about this, then Dean would definitely not like it. As was proven by Charlie's next words.

"Castiel Novak"

"No"

"Yes"

"No way in Hell"

"Yes way in Heaven"

Dean gave an insufferable look at the stupid joke and Sam huffed. "C'mon Dean" he tried for the 100th time "Cas would be the perfect guy! He satisfies every requirement of ours!"

"That sounds like a very sleazy sexual ad's line" he grunted, making Charlie whack his shoulder. The two bubbling balls of insane energy were bouncing off his nerves for the past hour. Charlie was whining and Sam was being demanding – two things that scratched his nerves like nails on a steel table.

"How do we trust a guy who readily agreed to put his own extremely high-paying job to take up a temporary 3 month job with us? I mean, _why_ would he want to do this?" Dean voiced out the most superficial of his concerns. He would never mention the ones about the intense attraction and hopeless reactions he would expect if ever he met the blue-eyed pilot again, who looked like a frickin model.

"That..is actually something I can vouch for." Kevin spoke up from the couch. Castiel was originally Kevin's friend and senior from college. "He can take a long break from work because his boss is Charlie's ex-client and he owes her some huge favours. He can overlook the pay part because we know that Sam's staff get paid as much, if not more than, the pilots at American Star. And he wants to do this because he likes you."

The last statement made Dean choke on his own spit, making Sam thump him hard on his back. Dean waved him off before turning to face Kevin with horrified eyes "He likes me?!" Dean squeaked out, too mortified to notice that he had actually _squeaked_. Kevin gave a small smirk "Well, when we spoke to him he said and I quote 'I would definitely help the Winchester brothers. That's the least I can do to relieve some of Dean's concerns.' I think he meant your _security_ concerns but yeah"

Dean glared at the insinuation and bared his teeth slightly at the calm journalist. Sam sighed beside him before scooting his chair closer and placing an arm on Dean's shoulder "Dean, I trust him too. He's got an excellent record, has a more personal relation with us and is actually _willing_ to do this. Let's just call him in and give the guy a chance to talk." Sam was almost pleading, with his puppy dog eyes.

Dean gave a frustrated grunt "Doesn't hurt that he is a _gay_ part-time model with extremely attractive eyes, huh?" he mocked Sam making the other guy chuckle.

"Oh that's one of my top reasons" Sam nodded in mock seriousness "but I don't recall mentioning anything about _attractive eyes_."

Dean felt the beginnings of embarrassment and resorted to the one tactic that never failed him.

"Shut up Sam."

Dean was sure he would wear down the carpet with his pacing but his legs were restless. He hoped that the others would chalk it up to impatience but didn't really care. Castiel would be here anytime now for his interview and Dean still felt that it was a bad idea. Unwittingly, his mind supplied him images of Cas flirting with him, laughing with him and then finally Cas kissing Balthazar. _Yup, definitely a horrible idea_.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard footstep up the stairs. He thought that he had his nervousness under control by now, but one look at the guy brought them back by buckets. _How in the Devil's name did anyone look this good?!_ Especially in a normal white shirt and dark jeans.

"Fuck me" Dean muttered under his breath when he saw Cas smile his special smile at everyone in the room.

"No thanks" Cas said, making Dean's eyes widen in shock. _Did the guy ACTUALLY hear him whisper?!_

"And how about some hot beverage instead sir?" Dean whirled back to see the butler standing with a glass of cold juice. He felt a rush of relief enter his lungs as he realized that Cas had answered the butler's unspoken question earlier.

The handsome pilot simply shook his head before reaching over to shake hands with everyone in the room. Dean noticed, with a small pang of ridiculous jealousy, that Cas smiled extra bright when he shook hands with Sam. _Does he like him?_ Dean wondered briefly before berating himself for stupid thoughts. Cas was just trying to butter up his potential employer, he decided.

When it was his turn to shake hands with Cas, Dean felt himself hesitating. He was still not sure why he didn't trust the guy. After a brief moment of reluctance he clasped the outstretched hand and gave it a normal firm shake. Unfortunately for him, Cas decided to hold on for a little longer than normal. When he let go, Dean was sure the others had noticed but judging by their expressions, they hadn't. Just his imagination then, he convinced himself as they sat down to begin his interview.

"Tell us about your personal life" Dean asked in a no-nonsense voice. It had been more than a good hour of questioning and he had still not found a single loop hole to get out of this mess. It was as Charlie and Sam had said – the guy was _perfect_. He was courteous without being a flatterer, professional without being cold and confident without sounding arrogant or condescending. In Dean's experience, these were key factors in a trust-worthy team mate. So, he had taken the personal route.

"My personal life." Cas repeated, unsure of what Dean meant. Sam looked like he knew where this was about to go and tried to warn Dean but the guy was hell-bent on seeing Cas crack. He needed to see an imperfection; perfection always freaked him out.

"Yeah, you know, your hobbies, goals, interests.. _preferences_." the unnecessary stress on the last word made it perfectly clear what Dean was hinting at. He expected Cas to act dumb or avoid the question.

As usual, he stunned him.

"You mean my _preference_ of men?" Cas asked directly, cutting through the bullshit.

"Sure man, if that's what you want to talk about" Dean shrugged non-committedly, baiting the other guy "What's your current relationship scene?"

Charlie tried to intervene, feeling alarmed at the turn the interview was taking. Kevin stopped her with a look, letting Cas handle this the way he thought right.

The pilot stared straight into Dean's forest green eyes. For a moment Dean thought he would get a slap to the face for being intrusive, or even a sharp insult. That was exactly what he wanted too; an excuse to prove Cas to be the wrong choice.

Castiel took a breath before relaxing back into the chair.

"My relationship scene" he started looking generally at all the occupants of the room but talking to Dean "is one that has never or will never interfere with my professional duties. I don't mix my personal needs and choices with the demands of my work. And vice versa. I understand my boundaries with my employers as do they with mine." At the last line, Cas looked directly at Dean, who was now frowning slightly at the calm demeanour of the pilot. After a beat of silent staring Cas broke out a small smirk and got a tiny twinkle in his eyes "But to answer your question more precisely, my current relationship scene is open. Are you interested?"

Dean couldn't stop the sputtering and blushing even if someone forced him to. Thankfully, his laughing friends didn't know that he wasn't _embarrassed_ by the question but quite _turned on_.

Sam stood up from his seat and came forward to shake Cas' hand enthusiastically "Cas, man, we don't really need to get all formal and establish strict boundaries. You're doing us a huge favour and are one of our friends now. Let's just keep it informal." He beamed at the older guy who cracked a smile at the billionaire's cheerful persona.

"Oh I don't know Sam" Dean spoke from where he was seated "Boundaries sound very good." He raised a challenging eyebrow at Cas who simply smirked back.

"Sure Dean, we'll maintain the boundaries as long as you want." He shot back with that damn twinkle in his eyes, making Dean feel that he meant something much more than just the job.

As Dean led Cas back to his car, thanks to coaxing from Charlie, he thought about mentioning Balthazar.

"Sooo..we saw the editor of _Attitude_ at Charlie's wedding" he announced in a voice he hoped was casual.

Cas cocked his head slightly and had a minor frown "Balthazar?"

"Yeah him" Dean continued, thinking of different ways to ask him about his 'good friend', "He's a good friend of yours right?"

Cas' stare held something strange in it before it disappeared and he was back to normal "Yes, a very old friend. He's the one that made me do the photoshoot you were so interested in."

Dean flustered at that "Oh I wasn't interested in it" he defended "I just heard it from Sam and..anyways, you guys are really close huh?" Dean hoped against hope that the random subject change wasn't too obvious.

Cas gave a knowing smirk but humoured him "Yes, we're friends from high-school. He was also my first lover, to answer your question"

Dean felt his mouth open but didn't hear any sound "I..I never asked that!" he retorted

"But you meant it." Cas pointed a finger at him with the same knowing smirk in place.

Dean thought about covering it up and making an exit but knew that it would end up in a mess. If they were going to work together for the next three months, he had to try not to create awkward situations.

"Yes I did" he caved "but that's just because I'm curious about..gay people." he ended lamely, mentally cringing at his stupidity.

Cas gave an incredulous expression "Why? You having doubts about your sexuality? I could help with that."

Dean HAD to stop getting shocked at such remarks if he wanted to avoid a heart-attack "I'm not CONFUSED about my..sexuality!" he huffed "And what does that statement mean?"

"I could direct you to a group that helps people accept and feel comfortable about their true self." Cas explained as though that was the most obvious explanation. Which in retrospection, might actually have been true.

"No thanks" Dean narrowed his eyes simply causing Cas to laugh and hop into his car.

Dean was ready to bolt from the place and punch down some punching bags when Cas rolled down his window for a last remark.

"Oh and that kiss you saw that day? It was a dare. From your very capable friend Charlie. I'm not interested in him anymore." The way Cas stressed on _him_ made Dean's skin tingle in nervousness. As he saw the car speed away from the mansion, Dean groaned out loud.

It would have been so much better if he had let Sammy use the normal frickin planes.


End file.
